(February 12, 2013 at 3:03 am)Tiberius Wrote: I agree that being paid a living wage is better than being paid too little to live on, but some jobs are simply not worth what the government sets minimum wage at. Besides, it is not the large companies that lose out because of the minimum wage; as you pointed out, they can afford it. The people who lose out are small businesses, who do not have the massive amounts of revenue that large companies have.
So, what then? Do we just let people starve so that business owners can keep afloat?
Quote:If Wal-Mart could start paying employees less, it would only cause itself to lose money in the long run, as employees leave for better jobs at Wal-Mart's competitors. Wal-Mart has an invested interest in paying its employees properly. You even state that they pay them above minimum wage...that doesn't seem like a company who are actively trying to pay employees the absolute minimum.
Many companies pay slightly above minimum because it looks good that you are not paying absolute minimum.
The problem is, it would not cause employees to leave for competitors, because their competitors (such as Target, for whom I've also worked) attempt to low-ball each other. If Wal-Mart suddenly started paying employees $1.50 an hour, Target would go "well, no reason to pay ours $7.75" and then Target employees might start making $1.65. Others would follow suit.
Employers like that can exploit desperation. Give them free reign to do so and we'll be a nation of sweatshop workers.
